I 5 2 CHIMNE Y SWALLOW. 



been occupied as a place of worship two or three times a-week 

 for several weeks past, and at those times there has been fire 

 in the stoves,- the pipes of them both going into the chimney, 

 which is shut up at bottom by brick work : and, as the birds 

 had forsaken that place, it remains pretty certain that they 

 did not return there ; and, if they did, the smoke, I think, 

 would be deleterious to their existence, especially as I never 

 knew them to resort to kitchen chimneys where fire was kept 

 in the summer. I think I have noticed them enter such 

 chimneys for the purpose of exploring ; but I have also 

 noticed that they immediately ascended, and went off, on find- 

 ing fire and smoke." 



The chimney swallow is easily distinguished in air from 

 the rest of its tribe here by its long wings, its short body, the 

 quick and slight vibrations of its wings, and its wide unex- 

 pected diving rapidity of flight ; shooting swiftly in various 

 directions without any apparent motion of the wings, and 

 uttering the sounds tsip tsip tsip tsee tsee in a hurried manner. 

 In roosting, the thorny extremities of its tail are thrown in 

 for its support. It is never seen to alight but in hollow trees 

 or chimneys ; is always most gay and active in wet and gloomy 

 weather ; and is the earliest abroad in the morning, and latest 

 out in evening, of all our swallows. About the first or second 

 week in September, they move off to the south, being often 

 observed on their route, accompanied by the purple martins. 



When we compare the manners of these birds, while here, 

 with the account given by Captain Henderson of those that 

 winter in such multitudes at Honduras, it is impossible not to 

 be struck with the resemblance, or to suppress our strong 

 suspicions that they may probably be the very same. 



This species is four inches and a half in length, and twelve 

 inches in extent ; altogether of a deep «ooty brown, except 

 the chin and line over the eye, which are of a dull white ; the 

 lores, as in all the rest, are black ; bill, extremely short, hard, 

 and black ; nostrils, placed in a slightly elevated membrane ; 

 legs, covered with a loose purplish skin ; thighs, naked, and 



